Exercise
How important is exercise for a healthy heart?
Exercise is the one of the best and most enjoyable ways of lowering your chances of developing heart disease. Regular exercise helps your heart to become stronger, so it can pump more blood around your body with less effort. Indeed, if you exercise on a regular basis, the chance of you developing heart disease is about half that of people who do no exercise at all.
Exercise can also help reduce high cholesterol and high blood pressure (both of which can lead to heart disease), help you to sleep better and help provide a feeling of well-being.
People of all ages can benefit from physical activity. Try to exercise at least three to four times a week for about 30 minutes each day. If you have a busy schedule, you can break up those 30 minutes into three 10-minute sessions. It is the total time that you exercise per day that counts. You can choose from a wide range of activities, including brisk walking, cycling, dancing and swimming.
We know that even moderate, daily activity, such as gardening, mowing the lawn or taking the stairs instead of the lift, can help your heart. If you have not exercised recently, be sure to check with your doctor before starting any exercise programme.